There are cases on record in which cures have been sudden, but I should greatly distrust their permanence except in very exceptional instances.

Many people have objected to hypnotism because they consider it as interference with free-will. Do those who talk about a drunkard's free-will understand that they are speaking of a thing which has ceased to exist? A dipsomaniac is reported to have said that if he were given a glass of whisky, and told that drinking it would immediately consign him to the pains of hell, which might be exposed to his gaze, he would be unable to resist draining the glass. An occasional success in treating such a frightful disorder would justify the trial of hypnotism in dipsomania, even if it were surrounded with ten times the dangers with which people credit it. As a matter of fact, the treatment offers considerable hope of cure even in desperate cases, and it is absolutely free from risk.

The above observations apply with increased cogency to treatment of the morphia habit by hypnotic suggestion. It is well known that this habit is more deeply impressed on the system than alcoholism, and that morphinomaniacs are even less trustworthy in their resolutions and protestations than drunkards. In treating the morphia habit, it is therefore necessary to have the patient under very efficient observation, and it is desirable to induce the most advanced degree of hypnosis possible, in order that suggestion may act with the most complete effect.

Dr. Wetterstrand records a series of thirty-eight cases, of which he treated twenty-eight successfully by suggestion (Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, March, 1896).

Sir Francis Cruise, Drs. Fitzgerald, Richard Hayes, Murphy, Redmond, and M'Cullagh of Dublin, related cases, and bore testimony to the value of hypnotism at the meeting of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, on March 6, 1891 (Dublin Journal of Medical Science, May, 1891). All these physicians and surgeons had made trial of the treatment, both in their private and in their hospital practice, and spoke from personal observation. Sir F. Cruise has kindly informed me that the lady dipsomaniac referred to by him and Dr. Murphy continues well, and is apparently cured. He has supplied me with information regarding other interesting cases, and among these one of diabetes mellitus. The patient is a young man whose condition was very serious. By hypnotic suggestion the urine has been reduced in quantity from 24 to 8 pints per diem, and the sugar proportionately, while the distressing thirst has been entirely relieved. Sir Francis says that, of course, he does not expect a cure, but it is a good thing to have been able so greatly to have mitigated the symptoms. His experience coincides with that of Van Renterghem and Van Eeden, who have been successful in their treatment of diabetes by suggestion, and who have also found it of value in Bright's disease.

The treatment of diabetes by hypnotic suggestion raises an interesting question. We know that this disease is often of psychical origin, and may follow serious emotional disturbance, such as fear, anxiety, anger, and deep grief where they occur in predisposed individuals. Sometimes ' psychical shock' is combined with bodily injury, as in a case reported by Professor Senator (vide British Medical Journal, February 17, 1900), when diabetes came on fourteen days after lightning-stroke. Suggestion by working centrally on the nervous system may be expected in these cases to reverse the morbid process, and thus effect amelioration, and perhaps ultimate cure. Dr. Draper, of Hud-dersfield, contributed a paper at the annual meeting of the British Gynaecological Society, held at Newcastle in June, 1891. In this he records some interesting cases he has treated by hypnotism. One of obstinate hysterical vomiting is especially striking. Another is a case in which he found suggestion of extraordinary efficacy in relieving symptoms and promoting convalescence after he had removed the ovaries, thus corroborating my own experience in such cases.

His paper is to be found in the Provincial Medical Journal for July, 1891. Dr. Draper tells me he has used hypnotism with gratifying results in eighteen cases of midwifery, and that he has performed a considerable number of surgical operations under hypnotic anaesthesia. Dr. Jane Walker, of the New Hospital for Women, London, records an interesting case of confinement under hypnosis in the Revue de l'Hypnotisme, 1896. The manner in which many English practitioners have taken up hypnotism is exactly that advocated by Professor Pitres in addressing his students at Bordeaux: 'Be physicians, gentlemen, and not hypnotizers; but learn how to apply hypnotism, and be ready to make use of it in suitable cases.'

The formation of a medical society for the study of the phenomena of hypnotism and suggestion is a move in the right direction. Within three months of its foundation - November, 1906 - it numbered about thirty members; now (1913) its membership is one hundred and fifty, and bids fair to rival in influence and utility its prosperous French forerunner, La Societe l"Hypnologie et de Psychologic, founded 1890.

The English Society will, we hope, afford encouragement and support to those medical men who are fighting as pioneers against lay and professional prejudice, and will enable us to collect and compare experimental and clinical results. The honorary secretary is Dr. Douglas Bryan, Spa House, Leicester; to whom, and to Dr. Betts Taplin of Liverpool, for their energetic initiative we owe a debt of gratitude.